


It Could've Been Anybody (But It Was You)

by monokurosora



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Miqo'te Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Named Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Nonbinary Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), and ur parents were still very much alive, but u didnt know until a chance encounter: the fic, just a self indulgent background lore dump abt my wol, what if u were the wol and u had amnesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:22:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26788165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monokurosora/pseuds/monokurosora
Summary: Priah walked up the steps into the covered marketplace, and they were almost to their desired stall when a voice called,“Xhana’li?”Priah paused. The name was unfamiliar to them, but the tone in which it was spoken tugged at the back of their mind like an itch that couldn’t be scratched. They turned to face the person in question, and found themselves staring slightly up at an older Miqo’te man with tanned skin and iron red hair secured in a loose braid down his back. He was dressed in weathered leathers and rough cloths, a heavy pack slung over his shoulder and a well-cared for bow and quiver strapped to his back. What really stopped Priah, however, were his eyes. They shone in the same shade of red that stared back at them whenever they looked into a reflective surface, with the same tattoo marks around the edges, although his had been inked in a dark brown instead of Priah’s white.“By the Twelve,” the Miqo’te breathed, staring at Priah like he’d seen a ghost. “It is you.”
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	It Could've Been Anybody (But It Was You)

**Author's Note:**

> hi welcome to my "i love my wol so very much and i have developed so much lore for them that i can write entire fics just about them and their family w/o having to include any canon characters (or at least barely have to include them)" club. pls enjoy your stay, refreshments are in the back.

Priah had arrived in Gridania early in the morning, feet touching down gently onto the wooden planks of the near-deserted aetheryte plaza. Only a few other brave souls willing to be up at the crack of dawn were meandering around the circular plaza, including two wood wailers leaning up against support beams, looking for all the world like they were attempting valiantly to not fall asleep at their posts. 

Priah had decided to make a quick stop that morning within the city state to pick up supplies and sell off a few items that had been scrounged up during various excursions on their travels. The thought of stopping at the botanist’s guild and catching up with Fufucha was a tempting proposition as well, considering their lack of interaction with the guildmaster since Idyllshire. Though Fufucha had trouble reading Priah’s hand signs occasionally, their combined interest in botany more than made up for the occasional communicative stumble. 

Priah followed the worn paths leading from the plaza to the Shaded Bower, ears twitching as they listened to the soft sounds of the wind in the leaves and the slow rumble that preceded the beginnings of another busy day for Gridania’s residents. Priah walked up the steps into the covered marketplace, and they were almost to their desired stall when a voice called,

“Xhana’li?”

Priah paused. The name was unfamiliar to them, but the tone in which it was spoken tugged at the back of their mind like an itch that couldn’t be scratched. They turned to face the person in question, and found themselves staring slightly up at an older Miqo’te man with tanned skin and iron red hair secured in a loose braid down his back. He was dressed in weathered leathers and rough cloths, a heavy pack slung over his shoulder and a well-cared for bow and quiver strapped to his back. What really stopped Priah, however, were his eyes. They shone in the same shade of red that stared back at them whenever they looked into a reflective surface, with the same tattoo marks around the edges, although his had been inked in a dark brown instead of Priah’s white.

“By the Twelve,” the Miqo’te breathed, staring at Priah like he’d seen a ghost. “It is you.”

Priah frowned, tilting their head in confusion.

“Do I... know you?” they signed.

The Miqo’te’s eyes widened, his mouth falling open slightly.

“I know it’s been years since I last laid eyes on you, but I would have hoped you would remember dear old dad,” the Miqo’te said, a nervous chuckle ending his statement as his tail swished about behind him.

It was Priah’s turn to stare.

“You... would claim to be my father?” they signed. “Do you know who I am?”

The Miqo’te man scoffed at Priah’s question, a wave of almost frustration washing over his features.

“I would think I’d damn well know who my own child is, Xhana’li Monshanti.”

“You keep calling me Xhana’li. That’s not my name,” Priah signed, their signs warbled as their hands shook. “I am Priah’nya.”

The Miqo’te man physically stepped back, his tail straight as a rod behind him and his ears pinned to his head as he stared at Priah. One of his hands came up to cradle his face, a weak laugh echoing in the room.

“To think you’d choose _her_ name to take on as your own,” he said, voice thick with an emotion Priah couldn’t identify, and Priah once again stared in blatant confusion. 

“If this conversation is over,” they began when they were certain he was looking at them, “I would be on my way.”

“Wait!” The Miqo’te’s hand shot out, grasping Priah’s forearm in a solid but gentle grip. “Wait, wait, wait. Please, Xha—Priah’nya, let me at least introduce you to my wife. Surely you’d remember her. She’s waiting for me at the Carline Canopy. I was supposed to meet her there after I sold off these pelts and innards. It won’t take long, and you... you don’t have to stay any longer than you want to.”

Priah thought about the Miqo’te’s proposition for several moments before letting out a breathless sigh.

“Fine,” they signed. “But only if you give me the time to unload my items to sell, too.”

“Please,” the Miqo’te looked at Priah with a gaze full of so much emotion Priah was slightly shaken. “Take your time. We can meet at the market boards here when you’re ready. I shouldn’t take long.”

The Miqo’te released Priah’s arm and wandered down the hall, glancing back once or twice as if he wasn’t sure Priah would still be there when he looked. When he was no longer visible to Priah, Priah turned and left to perform their own business, finding the merchants they had been searching for and unloading all kinds of the strangest things onto them for whatever gil they could get for it. Once their bag was a significant weight lighter, they returned to the market board lobby, spying the Miqo’te man sitting on one of the circular benches, his tail thumping against the cushioned seat in an erratic rhythm.

Priah motioned in his direction and he jumped up immediately, closing the distance between the two of them. 

“Glad to see you’re still amenable to our deal,” he said, and Priah gave a slight shrug in response.

“I’m at least willing to hear you out,” they signed, and the Miqo’te let out a sharp laugh.

“It’ll have to be enough,” he said, and the two walked out of the markets and down the worn paths, passing the aetheryte plaza and heading down the hill to the wide arch of the Carline Canopy’s entrance.

The two stood in the entryway for several awkward seconds, the Miqo’te scanning the room before breaking into a broad smile when his gaze landed on an older Miqo’te woman sitting alone at a table. She hadn’t seemed to have noticed either of them yet, grey-skinned hands brushing back long, blue-grey hair as dark brown eyes trailed over the pages of a small leather-bound book.

Priah watched her for a few moments before sharp pain burst across their temple. They sank to their knees, ignorant to the Miqo’te man’s surprised exclamations as a vision from the Echo overtook them.

* * *

_The Miqo’te woman sat in a dimly lit kitchen, book in hand as the other absentmindedly ran through her hair. She looked at least a decade younger, eyes alight with more emotion and vitality. She glanced up at the sound of something shuffling, and set her book down flat on the table as she stood to full height and crossed the kitchen. She walked into a small entryway where a young Miqo’te man with long dark hair stood by the door to the house, tugging on heavy boots and adjusting his mustard-yellow standard issue coat._

_“Xhan’a, you’re really set on this?” She asked, and the Miqo’te — Xhan’a — looked towards her with a sad smile._

_“Yes, mother, I am,” he said, finishing his adjustments and standing to his full height, almost a solid four inches taller than the woman. He closed the distance between them, a hand reaching out to stroke her cheek as he pressed his forehead to hers. “There won’t be a day I won’t think about all of you while I’m gone. But I won’t be gone forever, and this is an important fight to be had. Somebody’s got to stand up to the Garleans.”_

_Xhana sighed, arms looping around her son’s back as she pressed her forehead into the crook of his neck._

_“You be safe, you hear me?” she said, clutching at his jacket, and he sighed against her._

_“Yes, mother,” he droned, letting out a small chuckle as her ears flicked him in agitation. “I wouldn’t dream of making you upset.”_

_The two broke apart, and Xhan’a glanced up towards the stairs, smiling softly as he spied something in the darkness._

_“You two can come down, you know,” he said, and shadows moved against the dark._

_Two children slinked down the steps, one around twelve years old with grey skin and shoulder-length, russet colored hair, the other about nine with grey skin and long blue-gray hair. Both were dressed in sleep tops and shorts, and they looked sheepish at being caught awake past their bedtime._

_“Are you really leaving?” the smaller one signed, watching Xhan’a with big red eyes._

_“Aye, that’s right, Xhana’li,” Xhan’a said, kneeling in front of the two of them. “The Twin Adders call, and I must answer.”_

_“You don’t have to go,” the older one muttered, refusing to look Xhan’a in the eye._

_“But I do, Xhana’to,” he said, reaching out to ruffle his hair. “And while I’m gone, you have to watch over Xhana’li, understand? You’re their brother, and the two of you have to depend on one another.”_

_Xhana’to continued to not look Xhan’a in the eye, but Xhana’li rushed forward, burying themself into his side._

_“Be careful,” they wrote each letter carefully against his back, making sure he understood their writing. “Be safe.”_

_“Aye, I will,” Xhan’a said, and he gently pried Xhana’li off of him, ruffling the top of their head as well._

_Xhan’a stood to full height once more, and gave an official salute to the three of them._

_“I’m off,” he said, grabbing his bow and quiver from their hooks by the door and stepping out into the night._

* * *

Priah came to awareness slowly, realizing they were seated against the wall in a quiet corner of the Carline Canopy, and both the Miqo’te man and woman from earlier sat on stools nearby, talking quietly with one another. They reached up to clasp at their forehead, pain throbbing dully below the surface, and squinted against the low lighting of the Canopy.

“They’re awake!” the woman gasped as she chanced a look at them, rushing from her spot to be at Priah’s side, kneeling on the wooden floors next to them and pressing her hand against Priah’s forehead and cheek before pulling away a bit.

“You sure know how to scare a man,” the Miqo’te man said as he came over, kneeling on the other side of Priah. “I didn’t know what had happened but as soon as we’d walked in you clutched at your head and keeled over like you’d been stabbed!”

“It was... the Echo,” Priah signed, and the woman watched their hands intently.

“The Echo? Is that what you were looking for?” she asked, and Priah tilted their head in confusion.

“What do you mean?” they signed.

“Xha—Priah,” the Miqo’te woman corrected herself, “you know who we are, right?”

“Not... entirely,” they signed, and the Miqo’te woman’s entire face fell as she kept her gaze with Priah. “The Echo... It showed me a memory? Of you, in the past, saying goodbye to a... Xhan’a? He was leaving in the dead of night to join the Adders for something important. And Xhana’to and... Xhana’li were there to say goodbye, too.”

Xhana’s eyes welled with tears, and she reached for Priah’s hands to clutch with her own. 

“You were just a baby then,” she said, “and Xhana’to too. Xhan’a came back every so often, he visited between deployments by the Adders, but we didn’t — don’t live close to Gridania, and so his visits were so scarce... Once he left to join their ranks, it was like he had left forever. 

“It seems like so long ago, in retrospect, compared to the... You were seventeen, when the calamity struck. Xhan’a... and Xhan’a was there, at the scene of the battle when Dalamud fell... They never recovered his body—”

Xhana released Priah’s hands to pull them into a tight embrace. Priah allowed her to, not fully understanding what she had just said to them but still feeling... Something deep in their gut, something akin to grief, long forgotten. Xhana’s entire frame shook in their hold, and Priah held onto her just a little bit tighter, an unexpected whirlwind of emotion stirring within their chest.

Xhana pulled back from Priah a short while after, wiping at her face with the back of her hands. The Miqo’te man reached over, entangling his hand with hers, and the two of them looked to Priah.

“Priah,” Xhana began, “what is it you remember of the calamity and life after its occurrence?”

Priah paused, hand reaching up to rest on their chin as they thought back to those many years ago.

“Pain, mostly,” Priah signed. “The headaches felt never-ending, and the world was always too loud and too bright. I don’t... remember why I set out on my own, or where I left from, but I was searching... for something in particular.

“I apparently didn’t get very far before I was... There was an accident, I was told. The Echo was triggered in a place I shouldn’t have been at alone, I passed out, and I woke up days later in an entirely different place with unknown faces to greet me. These scars,” Priah’s hand came up to trace the faint lines across their face, “were the only evidence it had actually happened, but when I awoke I didn’t know who I was or where I came from or why I had set out on my journey in the first place.”

Xhana reached out with her free hand, taking Priah’s hand in hers. 

“Priah, this phenomena you refer to as the Echo, you’ve always had it,” she said. “Even as a tiny child, you were always signing with creatures from within the Shroud, leaving the house early in the mornings to play with them and disappearing fully until supper time, unable to be located even when it was inconvenient for you to be gone so long. I... I never felt I could hold it against you, though. The children your age hardly wanted anything to do with you, and Xhana’to, I don’t think he knew what to think.

“But when the calamity struck, when fragments of Dalamud rained down from the skies, something... something about your special gift changed. It caused you pain. So much pain. And even with all the healing I knew, nothing seemed to help. The effects of your gift weren’t something I could treat with conjury. So both Z’rheba and I, we kept our ears to the ground, listened for ways that could help you.

“And finally, one day, we heard about something, some group in the Waking Sands near Limsa Lominsa, a group looking for people who had gifts like yours. We pushed for you to travel, to make your way there and see if you could find the help we couldn’t give to you.”

Priah’s eyes widened, their ears pressed flat against their head, before they let out a small snort, biting the index finger of their free hand as if to keep from laughing.

“Is something the matter?” Xhana asked, her gaze sharp and narrowed.

“No, no, you misunderstand,” Priah signed, releasing their hand from her hold to sign faster. “It took me over five years, but I made it there. The destination I didn’t know I was looking for, I made it there. I found the people you had apparently wanted me to find, and they _did_ help. They’re still helping, even now. They became my family when I thought there was no one else.” 

Both Xhana and Z’rheba stared at Priah for several long moments, stunned into silence. Xhana finally broke out into a wide grin, tears forming at the edges of her eyes.

“I’m so glad,” she breathed out, physically sagging as if a long-held weight had finally been released from her shoulders. “Even if it didn’t go the way I had hoped, even if I had to spend so long apart from you, I’m still so happy for you.”

“Priah,” Z’rheba said, and they turned their attentions onto him. “something has been bothering me since we started this conversation in the Shaded Bower. It’s clear to me now that you really don’t recognize the two of us, but if your memories were lost with your accident, how did you come to be called Priah’nya?”

Priah paused, blinking at Z’rheba’s question. They reached for their knapsack still slung over their shoulders and rummaged around in it before producing a small bound tome from within, the cover worn and faded with time to almost be unrecognizable. They opened the cover to the two of them, and on the inside was a faded yet finely printed name on the top left corner: _Priah Monshanti_.

“The people who found me,” Priah signed, setting the tome back into their bag, “said this was the only personal effect that had been left on me when I was discovered, since it was tucked into a hidden pocket in my shirt. They called me Priah Monshanti, and since they didn’t know which... son I was, they tacked the _nya_ on at the end. I let it be at the time because I couldn’t be bothered, but it’s since become more of a moniker that I am _no_ son.”

Xhana looked at Priah.

“May I... May I see the tome again, please?” she asked, and Priah shrugged, retrieving it once more to hand over to her.

Xhana ran her hand gently over the outside of the book, eyes welling up with tears as she opened the cover to peer inside for herself.

“I always wondered where this had run off to,” she admitted softly, flipping through a few of the pages before finally closing the book and handing it back. “I’m glad to know it was in good hands this whole time.”

“Is this something important to you?” they signed, and Xhana let out a wistful chuckle.

“You could say that,” she said. “Priah Monshanti was my mother. When I separated from the rest of my clan, long ago, I found this among my personal effects at the time. Despite the rift that had grown between me and her, I couldn’t bear to part with the tome. It held far too much sentimental value.”

Priah reached back into their bag and pulled out the tome once more, pressing it into Xhana’s hands.

“Then you should be given back what is rightfully yours,” they signed. “I have only kept hold of it for so long because I had a feeling that it was something I needed to return, but I didn’t know to whom that would be.”

Xhana’s hands closed softly around the tome, bringing it to her chest and curling in herself around it. Z’rheba pulled Xhana into his arms, rubbing soft circles into her back as she began to sob once more, and he looked to Priah.

“Thank you,” he said. “You have no idea what this means to her.”

“I’m merely doing what any good adventurer would do, returning things to those who have lost them,” Priah signed, smiling, and Z’rheba himself began to look misty eyed.

“You’ve... really grown, you know that?” he said. “I hardly know of what you’ve gotten up to in these many years, but if this is how you treat strangers you meet, then I’m proud to call you my child.”

Priah’s smile grew wider, and their ears wiggled in appreciation. They raised their hands to speak once more, but they stopped abruptly as a chime came in from their linkshell.

“ _Priah, you there?_ ” Thancred’s voice asked, and Priah snapped once near their ear in confirmation. “ _Good, good. You gave us all a fright there, up and disappearing this morning. Where did you go?_ ”

“Gridania,” was Priah’s snapped morse code response.

“ _Gridania? You’ve spent the better part of the day there? What was so important that you needed to go there?_ ”

“I hadn’t meant to stay this long,” Priah snapped.

“ _Should we postpone tonight’s weekly check-in?_ ”

“No. No, don’t do that. I’ll head back shortly.”

“ _Alright. I hope you’ll explain your extended absence to us when you arrive,_ ” Thancred said, and the linkshell disconnected.

“Is everything alright?” Z’rheba asked, and Xhana even pulled away from him enough to look at Priah.

“Friend checking in,” Priah signed. “I didn’t realize the day had gone on for so long.”

Z’rheba glanced toward the now waning lights filtering in through the stained glass windows above them. 

“Nor had we, I’m afraid,” he said with a sad smile. “You need to go, don’t you?”

Priah nodded, and the three finally made to stand up, Priah stretching their stiff muscles as they did so.

“Well, now that we know you’re okay, and you know of us,” Xhana said, “you’ll make time to visit, won’t you? Bring your concerned friend next time and we can all have a chat at home.”

Priah let out a breathless laugh, and they nodded. 

“I’m sure they’d be amenable to that,” they signed. “You’ll have to... You’ll have to show me how to get there, though. I’m afraid I don’t remember the way.”

“We’ll worry about that step when we get there,” Xhana said, and she pulled Priah into a tight embrace, leaning up to kiss them on the cheek.

Z’rheba waited until Xhana pulled back before he stepped forward, pulling Priah into his own shorter hug.

“You keep doing what you’re doing and being that bright, caring person I remember you were,” he said quietly into Priah’s ear. “And when you visit us next time, tell us all about where you’ve been, what you’ve done these past years. Spare us no detail.”

Priah nodded against Z’rheba, and he gently pulled Priah’s head down far enough to kiss the crown of their head before gently clapping them on the shoulders and stepping back.

“We won’t keep you any longer,” Xhana said as she entangled her hand once more with Z’rheba’s. “Go do what you need to do. And remember, Priah, we’ll always be here for you.”

Priah nodded, chest tight and eye blinking back tears as they wobbly signed back a simple “thank you”. Then, as gracefully one can manage when they’re trying very hard not to cry, Priah headed out of the Carline Canopy. Instead of heading directly toward the aetheryte as they perhaps have ought to, Priah made a quick detour through the city and towards a quiet, secluded spot where no one would bother them. And there, once they were certain they were alone and unfollowed, they allowed the emotions that had reached their peak to overflow.

Only when they felt truly finished with their quiet sobs, face blotchy and eyes bloodshot, did they fulfill their promise to Thancred to return to Mor Dhona, where the others were waiting on them.

* * *

When Priah entered the Rising Stones, the main lobby was empty save for Thancred, sitting at one of the tables near the door with a glass of something clear and dark in front of him. He looked up at the noise, and Priah gave a weak smile, knowing well enough by now that they couldn’t hide anything from him.

“What happened?” Thancred signed, taking in Priah’s disheveled look. 

“It’s... complicated,” they signed, shoulders drooping as they exhaled a heavy sigh. “I’ll explain eventually.” They glanced around the empty space and gave Thancred a puzzled look. “Where is everyone?”

“Gone for the night, or waiting in the meeting room,” Thancred signed, and he finally stood. “Do you need a minute, or would you rather just go ahead and head in together?”

Priah looked to Thancred, and then to the glass on the table. They reached for it, tipping it back and downing the contents in a messy but single shot. They wiped the excess from their lips with the back of their hand, rubbing it off onto their pant leg.

“I’m ready,” they signed, and they strode towards the back room, setting down the empty shot glass on the bar counter as they passed it, Thancred hot on their heels.

“Priah, wait--” Thancred said, reaching out and grabbing their shoulder at the top of the steps. “Give me at least this much before we go in there. Tell me what happened. What _really_ happened.”

“I met my parents,” Priah signed, and they shrugged off Thancred’s hand, walking into the meeting room.

“Oh, that’s nice -- wait. Parents?! You have _family_?!”

**Author's Note:**

> sorry if the end feels... abrupt. i wanted to post this before i lost all confidence to do so. ;u; maybe there will be more later. or even other fics. priah is really fun to write and i like thinking abt their lore and how i get to puzzle piece it all into the lore already established by canon. anyways, if you made it this far, thank you so much for reading!! :"D


End file.
